Femto cells—building-based wireless access points interfaced with a wired broadband network—are generally deployed to improve indoor wireless coverage provided by a wireless network operator. Femto cells typically operate in licensed portions of the electromagnetic spectrum, and generally offer plug-and-play installation; e.g., automatic configuration of femto access point. Improved indoor coverage includes stronger signal and improved reception (e.g., voice or data), ease of session or call initiation and session or call retention as well. Coverage improvements via femto cells can also mitigate customer attrition.
Coverage of a femto cell, or femto AP, is intended to be confined within the bounds of an indoor compound (e.g., a building with multiple floors), in order to mitigate interference among mobile stations covered by a macro cell and terminals covered by the femto AP. In addition, confined coverage can reduce cross-talk among terminals serviced by disparate, neighboring femto cells as well. Conventional femto cell power features generally employ relatively inaccurate information sources and mechanisms to identify and set an optimal power transmission power that ensures quality of service within a confined coverage area. For instance, one such mechanism is to specify a building material and number of floors in order to ascertain path loss. As another example, a power adjustment mechanism can rely on measuring the macro network signal strength to assess an adequate transmission power in a femto cell. In the foregoing power management examples, however, resulting transmission power typically (a) fails to adequately cover all areas within a building, or (b) leads to excessive outdoor coverage, interference and signaling activity, with ensuing poor quality of service and reduced wireless device battery life.